Second charge lenders have reported a total £118.4m of lending across the second charge space in December, according to the latest Secured Loan Index from Loans Warehouse.

This figure represented a fall of £18.6m on November’s figure.

December’s figures also took the total lending for 2021 to £1.18bn from over 27,000 loans completed in the last 12 months.

While the number of completed loans during December saw a fall of 18% to 2,500, the average loan size exceeded November’s record breaking £45,399, rising to £47,394.

Loans Warehouse highlighted that this figure represents a 76% increase on December 2020 and the “continuation of a boom in second charge lending” that hasn't been seen since before the the financial crisis – with figures showing that Q4 2021 is the highest recorded lending since Q4 2008.

“In a rare event for the festive period, which further demonstrates how quickly second charge lending is growing, December even saw one lender report record completion figures,” said Loans Warehouse managing director, Matt Tristram.

“In other news, we start 2022 with the industries biggest lender, Optimum Credit, rebranding to Pepper Money from 24 January, after purchase in October 2018.”

The monthly Secured Loan Index from Loans Warehouse takes information from the biggest second charge lenders in the UK including Optimum Credit, Oplo, United Trust Bank, Together Money, Masthaven, Norton Home Loans, Equifinance, Evolution Money, Spring Finance, and Selina Finance.

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